Page 52 - Phonebox Magazine August 2007

Review by Sandra Marshall
Disobedience by Naomi Alderman
The Conjurors Bird by Martin Davies
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Book Review
By Oxfam Bookshop, Olney
'The Conjuror's Bird' tells two stories. One revolves around the love affair between Joseph Banks, 18th century naturalist and explorer, and an unknown woman. The other is a modern detective story to uncover her identity and with it the possible whereabouts of the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. The rarest bird ever recorded, the only preserved specimen of The Mysterious Bird disappeared from Bank's collection at about the same time that the mysterious woman vanished from his life.
The central character of the 'modern' story is John 'Fitz' Fitzgerald, a likeable but unlikely hero. He has lost both the conservation fervour of his youth and the will to finish his great work on extinct birds, as well as Gabriella, the love of his life. Now a lecturer and taxidermist he is drawn unwillingly into the hunt for Banks' lost specimen when Gabriella turns up again in his life, raising ghosts from his past and changing his future.
The story shifts between the past and the present and the reader is privy to the lives and thoughts of the 18th century characters. The motivations of those involved in the modern hunt however, are less certain. They only become clear as the identity and fate of the mysterious woman are uncovered, and as the journey of the even more mysterious bird in the intervening centuries, gradually unfolds.
The book's structure is reminiscent of A.S. Byatt's 'Possession' and shares some of its themes, particularly the way women's talents and lives are often invisible to history. But it employs a lighter touch, and moves more quickly. It provides an enjoyable experience for those readers who like to make their own connections and to second guess the protagonists as they unravel the evidence. K
Winner of the Orange Award for new writers in 2006, Naomi Alderman sets the scene in her opening chapter. The Rav – religious leader of the Orthodox Jews living in Hendon – is dying. Although he is struggling to lead them through a two-hour celebratory service, it is clear that he has not long to live, and that Dovid, his nephew and assistant, should be the one to take his place.
In sharp contrast, made even more obvious by a change of font and a transition to first-person narrative, the setting moves to New York and the life of Ronit, daughter of the Rav and the disobedient one of the book’s title. She has escaped from the narrow, restricted life of Orthodoxy to blossom as an independent woman and become a successful financial analyst. But now news of her father’s death has reached her, and as his only child, it becomes clear that she must return to the community she thought never to see again.
Return she does, a bright bird of paradise, among soberly-dressed, serious-minded Jews, with her modern habits and feminist views. It is clear that many wish she had not come back, though there are friends delighted to see her. For her part, she seems to go out of her way to shock and to
fulfil the fears those in authority have held – one even tries to bribe her to go back to New York before her father’s memorial service. The conflict between the traditional community and the ‘disobedient one’ is not uncommon and can be adapted to fit any similar situation, so that the reader can sympathize with both sides.
Naomi Alderman continues to use the device of
alternating first-person and third-person narrative
very successfully as a way of presenting both
sides of the conflict. We witness Ronit being
forced to face the problems of her past, to think again about what she has left behind, while the close-knit community struggles to accommodate what its members cannot understand.
This is a fascinating novel; thought-provoking and insightful, while at the same time full of gentle humour. Those of you listen regularly to Radio 4 may already have heard it on the book programme. I can thoroughly recommend it as a good holiday read! K
Review by Thelma Shacklady